A federal judge threw out a jury's award of $11 million to the programmer of the original John Madden Football, saying there was no evidence Electronic Arts copied his work for use in future editions of the game without paying royalties to which he would be entitled.
A jury today found that Electronic Arts used code and features developed by the designer of the first John Madden Football throughout Madden games published into the mid-1990s without crediting or paying him royalties, and required EA to pay damages that could start at $11 million and potentially reach much higher.
Despite all efforts to kill it, the lawsuit over who really made the Madden we all play today keeps chugging along.
Unless they settle beforehand, on June 10 a federal jury will hear some of the claims brought by one of the developers on the first John Madden Football, a lawsuit that alleges Electronic Arts owes him millions in unpaid royalties.
The guy suing Electronic Arts for, potentially, tens of millions in royalties from the Madden NFL series, has overstated and overrated his importance in developing John Madden Football, according to the series' creator.
